In the middle of the 19th century, the small town of Concord, Mass., had an outsized reputation as New England’s intellectual center. This was in large part thanks to the fame of four writers who called the place home: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David … Continue reading
Category Archives: Lectures
China Rose
It’s easy to imagine that heritage roses—with names such as ‘Archduke Charles’, ‘William R. Smith’, and ‘Maman Cochet’—originated in England or France. But every repeat-blooming rose today traces its history back to the China rose, Rosa chinensis, says Tom Carruth, The Huntington’s E. L. and Ruth B. Shannon Curator of the Rose … Continue reading
What Good is History?
How important is historical literacy in today’s world, where popular culture focuses on the here and now and the milestone events in our nation’s past often get short shrift? Two Pulitzer Prize-winning historians recently weighed in on that question, during a scholarly forum at The Huntington titled “On the Importance of Historical Literacy: … Continue reading
Bulbs and Roses
Earlier this month, a group of dedicated volunteers began the gargantuan task of pruning The Huntington’s more than 3,000 rose bushes. Hard pruning once a year keeps roses healthy and promotes blooming. But how do you keep a garden looking its best when all you see is thorn-studded stubs robbed … Continue reading
The Map That Changed the World
In 1815, a surveyor named William Smith published a huge, 10-by-16-foot map of England, Wales, and part of Scotland titled A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales. Up until then, explorers had sketched fairly accurate maps of land’s extent and contours. Smith’s hand-colored map indicated the geologic units … Continue reading
Hear Ye, Hear Ye
Did you hear that The Huntington possesses an illuminated prayer book that fell from the hands of Mary Queen of Scots when she was beheaded in 1587? Or that the findings of German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt laid the groundwork for John Muir’s ideas of preservation and Henry David Thoreau’s … Continue reading
Remembering Loren Miller
Loren Miller (1903-1967) was a Los Angeles-based attorney and civil rights activist who drafted most of the briefs in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), which ended legal segregation in public schools. He also specialized in housing discrimination cases, owned the California Eagle—one of … Continue reading
Aristotle’s Masterpiece
Aristotle’s Masterpiece was the bestselling book about sex and reproduction on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from the late 17th to the early 20th century—but the book isn’t by Aristotle, and it’s not usually considered a masterpiece. First printed in London in 1684, it was imported to the American … Continue reading
Sir Isaac Newton, Alchemist?
Is it possible that the English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest theorists in the history of science, practiced alchemy? That a giant of the scientific revolution shared a dream common among charlatans of his age—to turn lead into gold? William R. Newman, professor of history … Continue reading
All the Tea in China (and Japan)
People who appreciate green tea for its antioxidant properties don’t know the half of it. In a recent Huntington lecture, “Searching for the Spirit of the Sages: The Japanese Tea Ceremony for Sencha” (which you can listen to on iTunes U), scholar Patricia J. Graham shared a poem by Tang … Continue reading